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Sonia Escobio O'Donnell

Following her clerkship for the Honorable Peter T. Fay in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Sonia Escobio O'Donnell became an assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida where she was involved in civil and criminal trials and appellate litigation. As an assistant for approximately 16 years, she participated in criminal cases, wrote and argued criminal appeals, supervised the appellate division and became the Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney and Special Counsel to the U.S. Attorney. As the Executive Assistant she had management and supervisory duties for all areas of the office, she reviewed and approved indictments, coordinated and created the program for the Drug Task Force in Miami (HIDTA) and drafted and/or argued major motions in high-profile criminal cases. As Special Counsel to the U.S. Attorney, she advised the U.S. Attorney on major legal issues in the office. She was assigned to the civil division for three years where she defended lawsuits against the United States.

In private practice she represents corporations in civil litigation in both the trial and appellate levels. She advises clients on issues of grand jury subpoenas and white collar defense. She has litigated, at both the trial and appellate levels, issues of Indian tribal sovereignty and immunity, Indian gaming (Indian Gaming Regulatory Act) as well as constitutional and environmental issues. She has filed merits and amicus briefs, as well as certiorari petitions, in the United States Supreme Court. She has briefed and argued hundreds of cases in federal appellate courts and has also briefed and argued cases in the state courts.

SFWMD v. Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, 541 U.S. 95 (2004). The Tribe sued the South Florida Water Management District to enforce the Clean Water Act. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Tribe on the question presented (Supreme Court Brief).

Center for Biological Diversity v. Salazar, No. 09-01684 (D.D.C.). This matter involved a critical habitat designation for the Cape Sabal Seaside Sparrow. The Miccosukee Tribe of Florida, as Intervenor, supported the government's position to not designate the areas at issue as a critical habitat (trial level).

Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. v. State, 656 So. 2d 505 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995). Case against the State of Florida involving request for rulemaking to set phosphorus level in surface waters of the Everglades at ten parts per billion. The Third District Court of Appeals held that the Tribe had been denied procedural due process (appeal).

United States v. Marino-Garcia, 679 F.2d 1373 (11th Cir. 1982) - challenge to federal statute's extension of U.S. jurisdiction over stateless vessels on the high seas; United States v. Romero-Galue, 757 F.2d 1147 (11th Cir. 1985) - challenge to federal statute's extension of jurisdiction to foreign vessels on the high seas (appeals).

Florida Paraplegic, Ass'n. v. Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, 166 F.3d 1126 (11th Cir. 1999). Tribal sovereignty decision in which the Eleventh Circuit found that the Americans with Disabilities Act did not provide a private cause of action against Indian Tribes (appeal).

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